Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1883 — DEAD BODIES IN HEAPS. [ARTICLE]

DEAD BODIES IN HEAPS.

Appalling Carnage in a Man-Trap at Sunderland, England. A Panic i* a Public Hall Karaite in the Death of Nearly 200 Children Scenes During the Frightful Crush Which Killed the Unfortunates. [Cable Dispatch from London.] About 200 children were crushed to death in Sunderland, County Durham, the evening of the 16th. An entertainment had been given at Victoria Hall by a conjurer. There was an audience of several thousand, consisting almost wholly of youngsters. After the performance, and when the body of the hall had been cleared, about 1,200 children came rushing down from the gallery. The door at the top of the first flight of stairs opened only twenty inches—merely enough to allow one person to pass at a time. While the little ones were nurrying out one lost his footing, fell, and was unable to rise. Those following were tripped. Then the children dashed forward pell-mell Those in front were being suffocated and trampled upon; those jn the rear became frenzied, and pushed forward with the energy of despair. The scene was appalling. All efforts to stay the mad rush were fruitless. Many of the victims had their clothing torn from their bodies. The ages of the children ranged from 4to 14 years. They lay seven or eight deep on the stairway. The number of injured is estimated at 25(1

The excitement in the town was intense. Great crowds rushed to the scene, until 20,000 persons surrounded the hall. The authorities orderedout the Fifty-eighth infantry to preserve order. The work of removing the Dodies began immediately. As soon as the little unangled forms were taken from the great heap they were laid out in the hall The parents of the victims were then admitted to identify the remains Mothers uttered pirceing thrieks, and many fainted on discovering the bodies of their little ones

The janitor says the fMne behind the gallery door was fearful Some children were fixed upright in a heap, and were actually gasping for breath, so great was the pressure of the crowd behind. When the disaster occurred the janitor and several others were hastily summoned. The bystanders went to work immediately to give relief to the sufferers. They first sent out of the building the little ones still in the hall, thus averting a further crusn. Those who went to the rescue found the work of removing the heap of bruised, crushed and suffocated bodies no easy task, and 2GO children practically uninjured were rescued from the pile. Many others were found unconscious, some of whom were restored. An eye-witness says he saw lying on the flag-stones, a short distance from the bottom of the stairs, the dead bodies of seven children. Many of those who came to assist in removing the dead and rescuing the living were utterly overcome by the distressing sight of so many dead and dying children.

The rescuers’ efforts were directed toward reaching those who were apparently alive. So tightly were the vioiims jammed together .that it wat regarded as dangerous to drag them out of the helpless mass, lest the effort would result in pulling off the limbs of living children, as well as of the mutilated dead. They theiel'ore proceeded steadily and systematically to lift off the topmost A few of those beneath had survived and their moaning and low cries of pain could be distinctly heard, and mingled with the cries of bereaved parents and friends, who were thronging adjacent streets. Mr. Fay, who gave the entertainment, was busy packing up his apparatus to depart when a man rushed up to him and informed him of the disaster. He immediately fell down speechless. One man and his wile pushed their way into the hall in which lay the bodies of the victims, and without betraying any emotion began to scan the faces of the dead.' Recognizing one of his children the father, pointing with his finger, exclaimed: “That's one.” Passing on again he recognized another, and then a third. Staggering in a fit of agony he cried: “My God! All my family gone!” And overwhelmed with grief he sank to the floor. In some homes there are five children dead

A lad was sitting on the railing near Murton street crying. A passer-by inquired the cause of his grief. “Why, sir,” said he, “I was in the place there, and when I was coming out a boy that was dying bit my hands, and that's him,” he added, pointing to the corpse of a child lying near. The scene inside the hall during the identification of the victims baffles description, as the faces of the dead were black and swollen from suffocation, of which many died. Many lips were cracked and bleeding, and parentis, rushing wildly about, would fail upon the bodies of their children and with loud wailing and weeping, clasp the unconscious forms in their arms, vainly endeavoring to note any sign of life. Many poor mothers swooned away, while others were wild and almost violent in their hysterical grief. The removal of the dead to-day occasioned renewed lamenl ation and confusion. Many parents rushed through the police cordon, und caused a wild confusion. The weather was warm, and the passageway very close, so that a short time after the terrible catastrophe a horribly sickening stench came from the main outlet.

One Sunday-school loses thirty scholars by the catastrophe. Many of the survivors had their arms broken in the crush. Others are suffering from broken ribs or the rupture of internal organs. The hall-keeper says the children not twenty yards from the door came pressing forward, unaware of the tragedy, thus making matters ten times worse than they really were. The staircase from the gallery was a winding one. Both the audience and the officials were in the hall at the time of the disaster, and were unaware, for some time, of the terrible tragedy being enacted at the door. They were not informed until Graham, the hall-keeper, who was strolling near by the scene of the calamity, was attracted by piteous greans, and then gave the alarm. The eagerness of the children to depart from the hall was caused by their desire to receive the prizes promised them. Graham throws the blame of the calamity upon the man connected with the entertainment, who it appears fastened the door half open, in order that the prizes might be given to the children one at a time while leaving. Queen Victoria sent a telegram to the Mayor of Sunderland exj ressing her grief at the disaster. Tne children of various Sundayschools also sent telegrams of sympathy. The flags were at half-mast.